I got my car back from the welder today. No more rusty sills!

http://koti.mbnet.fi/mtn/images/autot/GLT/helmat/

Now I just have to rustproof them sometime soon before the snow comes.

Front wheel bearings were also changed at the same time as the right side one was making noises.. No more noises and it rolls much smoother, speed doesn't drop as fast, when you lift the throttle, as it used to.

Good work that man! LOTS of waxoyl/dinitrol is required. I have what I believe is a dodgy wheel bearing, I'm hoping that's what is making the car feel awful and sound quite bad at the front. Always clever to change them both, rather than doing just one like some people try to do, as they are the same age normally, so the other one will probably also fail soon.
Pete

Looks familiar, nice work

New bearings made a big difference, especially at highway speeds. There was a rumbling noise before which I didn't even know to come from the bearing. I just thought that it was a normal resonance.. But now it is much more smoother and quieter at the highway speeds.

I painted the sills with Rostex today. (Originally made as a primer for steel boats, roofings etc... but it has been proven to work very well in rust protection of car bottom parts too and it doesn't cost too much)

Next I'm going to recoat it with the paint meant for Rostex and after it has dried I'm going to put on the Dinitrol underbody coating and spray the inside of the sills full with Dinitrol fluid. Then it should be good against the road salt.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/mtn/images/autot/GLT/helmat/2/

Good work that man!

cheers

James

Yet another Color..

http://koti.mbnet.fi/mtn/images/autot/G ... G_2070.jpg

Now it's finished.. Sprayed them first with Valvoline Tectyl ML from inside and outside and after that put on some Tectyl Bodycare underbody coating on the outside. Should be protected against road salt and rusting now..

I think I'm not going to fit the sideskirts yet as I have to take those out again when I change the front fenders.

Im going to wash the bottom of the car when I get the car on to the car lift sometime.. Old underbody coating is cracked in some places so it needs some restoring. No rust there luckily, just dirt.

hi there!

Did you have to replace the whole sill or was jsut a section repaired?

My 1991 340 has a rust prob near the rear wheel arch on the sill near the jacking point... MOT failure here in the UK. Can this be repaired easily by a good welder?

what dya know guys? need some advise!!

cheers

Shimon

PS The chassis leg near the fuel tank tends to rust and separate at the join. A very common prob on the 340 and also a MOT failure.

I have a friend who used to make a bespoke Y shaped piece to weld over the damaged rust split. I need some pics to show you more clearly but Im thinking of getting him to make them up for us and they would be available via this site....

S

Anything can be repaired by a competant welder. Nessy has had both areas repaired.

cheers

James

Both sills were replaced completely because there were few quite big holes in both of them.. ~20 years of road salt at winter and sideskirts without good protection against rust isn't a good combination.

Parts weren't too expensive, ~40e a piece. Welder got them from a local auto body part wholesale dealer, very good quality. I didn't buy them from Volvo as sills would have cost allmost double price there (75e a piece) and I would have had to wait for a week or two, because they would have had to order them from Sweden.. There were two types of sills available, one which doesn't have the bottom part of the sill and one which is complete with the bottom part too. Mine were the complete ones.

Yeah jacking points are very common rust problem, it's an easy job for a good welder. Nothing major.

Ahh... I didn't realise there was a panel available with the lip part underneath. My sill that has been replaced didn't have the lip part on the panel so my welder had to fabricate it himself. I'll try and get the full sill next time! Do Volvo actually still stock them?

Yeh i have had a jacking point repaired, but need the opposite side one doing now!!
Shimon if those y pieces are good quality i wouldnt mind a pair as mine are going!! ALthough i dont think these are an MOT failure as they are not trully structural.
Adam

SteveP wrote:Ahh... I didn't realise there was a panel available with the lip part underneath. My sill that has been replaced didn't have the lip part on the panel so my welder had to fabricate it himself. I'll try and get the full sill next time! Do Volvo actually still stock them?

Well I don't know how long those Volvo ones are available but at least when I asked from the local dealer, their computer said that parts are available in Sweden. But as the price was almost double and it would have taken some time to deliver those, I chose the parts which welder was able to get from this wholesale dealer who sells all kinds of car parts for different makes.

Though surprisingly many body parts are still available from the Volvo also. For example both front fenders can still be bought from Volvo, ~100e a piece if I remember correctly. It's almost a same price what a bulk part costs.

I also first bought the sills, which didn't have the bottom lip, from the local part shop, but when I took those to the welder, he said that there are also ones available which has the lip so I returned those and he got those sills with the lip from the wholesale dealer.

So I guess those with the bottom lip are more rare, because this local part shop sold me ones without also. Those would've been even cheaper though, 25e a piece, but the full sill is easier to weld and the ones that welder got from the wholesale dealer were better quality too. Metal didn't wobble so I guess it was thicker.

shimon340 wrote:My 1991 340 has a rust prob near the rear wheel arch on the sill near the jacking point... MOT failure here in the UK. Can this be repaired easily by a good welder?

I had this done a couple of weeks ago - £30 from a backstreet welder